The Fox and the Crow
by hiddlestown
Summary: Discontinued for the moment. Sorry! D:
1. prologue

**THE FOX AND THE CROW++ [prologue]**

A coal-black crow sits in a tree,  
>A morsel of cheese in his beak has he.<br>A fox slinks by as sly as you please,  
>And cunningly plots how to get the cheese.<p>

"Oh how I admire your feathers so spry,  
>The sheen of your tail and the glint of your eye,<br>The elegant curve of your beak sharp and long -  
>But would I could hear your sweet voice raised in song!"<p>

At this the crow's flattered and quite taken in;  
>To impress the fox further he will now begin.<br>He throws back his head, and rasping and raw,  
>He utters a raucous, cacophonous "Caw!"<p>

With beak all agape, the cheese tumbles out,  
>The fox snaps it up in his long pointed snout.<br>"Sing, Crow, your vanity, long as you please.  
>You keep your song, and I'll have the cheese!"<p>

_Paul King_

* * *

><p><em>It was May 2, 1998. That night, shouting and crashing permeated the air of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. But in the gardens, the sounds of the battle inside were distant. <em>

_The Fox hummed a childlike tune as she approached the pillar that hid what she had been pursuing. Her swaying figure cast a shadow at the mouth of the courtyard, tall and looming. Her black boots made little sound against the stone floor; but you could hear her cloak swishing wildly in the wind, its red fabric billowing around her tiny body. Her ears picked up the sound of frenzied, shaking breaths, and abruptly her humming morphed into an open-mouthed song. "Ring around the rosie… pocket's full of posies…" Her voice dropped low into a triumphant murmur as she put her hand on the pillar. "Ashes… ashes… we all... fall… down." _

_Fluidly, she pivoted around it, grinning gleefully. Her wand hand was outstretched before her, but she needed no wand. It was the look of terror on the two aurors' faces that gave her the power she needed. The expression sent a pleasant chill through her spine, and she felt her fingertips tingle. "Evictum." _

_The first auror collapsed, chains tangling through his arms and legs. "Remus!" the other cried, reaching for him. The Fox's tongue flickered against her teeth. That wouldn't do. She murmured a spell under her breath and suddenly the female auror's legs gave, and she crumpled onto her knees. Chains bound her wrists and ankles together, and The Fox made sure that they were extra tight. The Fox was not Voldemort- she knew she could still be beat. She wanted to make sure that if this girl escaped her, she would forever have the scars on her wrists. _

_The Fox stalked up to the girl, looming over her. Her long black hair hung like a curtain over her hanged head. The Fox knelt before the girl, running her fingers almost soothingly through her hair. "Tell me, Aubrey…" she cooed, pausing when the auror started slightly. "Does it surprise you that I know who you are, Abby?" she inquired, using the girl's nickname. When Aubrey gave no answer, The Fox scowled and dug her fingernails, purposely sharpened into claws, into her scalp. "I asked you a question, love," she breathed. "Does it… surprise you… that I know who you are?" she repeated slowly, tightening her grip on Aubrey's hair with every word. _

_Aubrey was shaking now. After a moment, she nodded slowly. The Fox's face relaxed into a smirk. "Then you still don't know who I am…" she murmured, going back to petting her hair. "Come now… we were friends... if you don't remember me, I might be insulted. We don't want that now," she chuckled. Aubrey didn't respond. The Fox sighed. "I'll give you a hint. I am The Black Fox. You are…" she leaned down and whispered something in Aubrey's ear. _

_At the sound of her words, Aburey stiffened and her eyes grew wide. The Fox swiftly darted away from her ward, leaning against the pillar, because she knew now. Aubrey knew who The Fox was. The Fox, Voldemort's favourite pet, the spectral killer whose face no one had ever seen, was _her.


	2. the hogwarts express

**THE FOX AND THE CROW +1+ [new arrivals]**

Through mostly vacant streets

A baker from the outskirts of his town  
>Earned his living peddling sweets<p>

From the ragged cart he dragged around

_Mewithoutyou_

* * *

><p><em>Place: Hogwarts Express<em>

_Weather: Rainy _

_Year: Sixth_

There are several ways to travel from London to Scotland; some of them are enjoyably comfortable- others are decidedly not. For instance, sitting in business class on a two hour flight is _not_. But sitting in first class without someone sitting next to you _is_. However, not many people are fortunate enough to have that option, so they are usually stuck sitting in the back, listening to the distracting roar of the engines which isn't _quite_ loud enough to drown out the sound of the stranger snoring next to you.

For Aubrey Montgomery, this was, indeed, one of those situations. "… man, I _totally_ hit that. And that. _And_ that. And oh man, I haven't hit _that_, but I am _so_ working on it."

Okay, so she wasn't on an airplane, and the person next to her was far from a stranger, and he definitely wasn't snoring. She was on a train- the train that lead to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry- and the person who was (regrettably) sitting next to her was Sirius Black; but what he was doing was far, far worse than snoring. Through the window of their compartment, he was pointing out all of the girls he had slept with in the past year and the ones that he was planning on sleeping with. And try as she might, she couldn't block him out.

"Fantastic! Look, the foreign exchange students!" Sirius grinned before blathering on about which ones he was going to ask out. Aubrey was about to hit him with something, preferably hard and sharp, when a knock came upon the door. Aubrey loosened her hold on her wand.

"Who is it?" she asked loudly over the sound of Sirius's voice.

"Door's open," James, who was sitting on the other side of Sirius, looking rather bored, added.

The door slid open. In the doorway stood one of the foreign exchange students that Sirius had been pointing out before. Hastily, she pushed strands of her rain-streaked orange hair away from her face, revealing the second of two pale blue eyes. Her figure was delicate and fair, and her clothes were plastered to her body. When she spoke, she surprised them, for her voice was strong and her accent was thickly Russian, but the strangest thing was her dialect was British. "Mind if I kip here? Everywhere else is full."


	3. falmouth falcons

**THE FOX AND THE CROW +2+ [getting to know her]**  
>The clever fox crept close behind<p>

Kept an ever watchful eye  
>For a chance to steal a ginger spice cake<p>

Or perhaps a boysenberry pie

_Mewithoutyou_

* * *

><p>Aubrey was the first to speak. "I suppose, yeah," she nodded, giving her a smile. The girl smiled back and slid into the seat next to Sirius. Aubrey's welcoming smile morphed into a grimace when she saw him watching her with wide eyes and an open jaw. Hoping to quell the awkward silence, she spoke again. "I'm Aubrey Montgomery," she introduced herself, extending a hand. "That dope next to you is Sirius Black." Sirius tore his eyes away from her and grinned a cocky grin. "This bookworm over here is Remus." Remus lifted his eyes from his book and smiled, giving the girl a quick 'hi'. "That's James- don't talk to him, he's a wanker." James at least had the decency to look slightly affronted. "Peter's not here right now…" she stated, finally noticing the absence of the watery-eyed boy. She shrugged. "I suppose he's out running after the trolley."<p>

Sirius snickered. "Running? Wormtail can hardly walk, let alone run!" he barked.

Aubrey glowered at him, giving him a look that clearly meant 'shut up'. Sirius slid down in his seat, averting his eyes. She turned back to the girl. "What's your name?" she asked.

"Abyssa, but you can't call me that. You can call me Moggy." Although what she said should have sounded rude in context, her tone was friendly and well-meaning. Aubrey barely even noticed her wording, and when she did, she simply assumed it was just this girl's way of talking. She was so entranced in her conversation that she didn't even notice how Remus had started slightly when the girl said her name.

"Are you new here, Moggy?" James inquired, as oblivious to Remus's shock as Aubrey was. "I don't think I've ever seen y'around."

She shook her head, laughing a little. "I've been here since second year. I don't often talk to Gryffindors," she explained.

"Why not?" Sirius interjected suspiciously. "You aren't a Slytherin, are you?" Aubrey shot him a look and was about to say something, but Moggy interrupted her.

"Actually, I am," she informed him pointedly. "But that doesn't mean I'm going to kill your first born child," she added, smiling. Aubrey waited, expecting Sirius to move away from her or ask her to leave. But to her surprise, he only grinned at her.

"Ah, well. They were going to put me in Slytherin, too," he admitted. "But green just isn't my color." Moggy smiled slightly.

"What a strange thing to say," she laughed.

To everyone's surprise, it was Remus who spoke next. "Forgive me, but what is your last name? The name Abyssa... it seems familiar, somehow," he questioned, tilting his head to the side.

Moggy's smile slowly evaporated. She folded her arms across her chest and averted her eyes, a dusting of pink appearing on her snow-white cheeks. "It's not of great importance," she mumbled, "my last name." She crossed one leg over the other and blew hair out of her face.

Remus could tell she was avoiding something, but he wasn't about to give up. He was curious. "You wouldn't be Abyssa Serpentine, would you?" She bit her lip as everyone turned to stare at her.

Rolling her eyes, she countered. "And if I was?" she demanded.

"Ace!" Both James and Sirius shouted simultaneously and high-fived. "Do you know who you are?"

Moggy stared at them incredulously. "I seem to be suffering some amnesia. Please enlighten me," she dead-panned.

Sirius ignored her tone. "You're the sister of one of the most talented Quidditch seekers of all time! Phoenix Serpentine!" At this point, James was speaking with him. "Phoenix Serpentine of the Falmouth Falcons! Motto, let us win, but if we cannot win, let us break a few heads!"

Moggy closed her eyes and smiled. "Yeah, that's him, brother dearest," she drawled sarcastically.

Much to the girls' displeasure, the rest of the ride was spent discussing different Quidditch players and how awesome Pheonix Serpentine was compared to them. Eventually, Aubrey was drawn into Remus's abandoned book, while Moggy was left to sit awkwardly as James fawned over her brother.

The time flew- Aubrey had no idea how much time had passed by the time the conversation started to die down. The lack of shouting and arguing was probably the only reason they heard the knock on the door. Aubrey frowned and set her book down when she heard it.

"Bloody- how many people are gonna knock today?" Sirius grumbled as he reached across Moggy's lap to slide open the door.

The person who had knocked was a boy with dark tousled hair and a narrow figure. He was probably about sixteen, but despite that, Aubrey had never seen him before. However, the same could not be said for Moggy. The second Sirius slid open the door, she had leapt up from the seat and hugged the boy.

The Marauders all stared at her and the boy curiously. James was the first to speak. "Who's your friend, Moggy?" he asked.

Moggy released him from her embrace, but still kept a firm hand on his arm. The boy didn't seem to mind. "Hello, I'm Barty Crouch," he introduced himself, not bothering to extend a hand.

Sirius nodded and introduced himself. Although Sirius invited them to stay in the compartment, before anyone really had time to comprehend it, the pair was gone.

The friends sat in silence for a minute before Remus spoke: "Well… that was certainly strange." Aubrey nodded in agreement.

"Hmm… I wonder if we'll see Moggy again?" she mused.


	4. the witching hour

**THE FOX AND THE CROW +4+ [the witching hour]**

Looking down was the hungry crow, "When the time is right, I'll strike

And condescend to the earth below and take whichever treat I'd like."

The moment the baker turned around to shoo the fox off from his cart,

The crow swooped down and snatched a shortbread cookie and a German chocolate tart.

_Mewithoutyou_

* * *

><p>As the days went on, the girl Aubrey had met in the compartment became a trusted friend. In fact, all of the Marauders were warming up to her. She was different from all the other Slytherins. She was proud, but she was kind, and she wasn't condescending at all. James jested with her, Sirius flirted with her, and Remus played wizarding chess with her in the library. It wasn't rare for the five to spend time together on the weekends, sometimes going to Hogsmeade. As school progressed, James even let Moggy in on the secret of the Marauder's Map (though that was partly because of a small incident involving a very badly ruined prank). Everything was perfect for Aubrey; she had a shiny, brand new friend, her schoolwork was light, and she was having fun.<p>

On the night of October 31, all of that was destroyed.

It was late Halloween night. Most people were holed up in their common rooms, spilling their butterbeer and arguing over who had the best costume. Aubrey had long since abandoned her friends for favor of taking a walk through the castle. She had found herself in an abandoned corridor of the third floor. There, the classrooms were cold, the corridors were soundless, and the halls were empty. Aubrey was completely alone.

She reveled in the silence. It was rare that she could walk for more than thirty minutes before running into some other person, even if this hall was unused. But tonight, she hadn't seen anyone. Although it was a nice change, it also somewhat disturbed her. It had never been this quiet before, no matter how late she ventured out.

She glanced at her watch. It was 12:01. _The witching hour has begun, _she mused. A shiver ran down her spine as she rubbed her arms. _It's fricking freezing in here._ She could only hear the noise of her shoes slapping against the stone floor and her own breathing, and vaguely, she wondered if it was the only sound on the entire level.

"_Hurry… late…" _Aubrey stopped dead in her tracks. Had she just heard voices? _Perhaps I'm not as alone as I thought I was…_ She listened carefully, not daring to breathe.

"_He won't… oh, bother!" _There it was again. It was coming from one of the old classrooms she had passed. _"I swear, Lestrange, you…_" Lestrange? Aubrey's eyes widened. What was Rodolphus Lestrange doing here at this late hour?

"_Relax, Bella, I was only…" _There was a resounding clatter that made Aubrey jump. _"Bollocks!" _

Aubrey bit her lip. Lestrange _and_ Bellatrix were up to something, and she wanted to know what. Last time she had seen the two, they had kidnapped a first year and were forcing him to ingest a badly made Befuddlement Drought. _I have to do something. What if they've done something like that again? _Aubrey argued with herself, fiddling with the prefect's badge on her chest.

Making her decision, she pulled the invisibility cloak from her pocket and threw it around her shoulders and over her head, rendering her completely invisible. She cast a silencing charm on her shoes but didn't put her wand back in her pocket, holding it ready before her as she walked noiselessly into the room where she had heard the voices.

"You're late."

Lestrange and Bellatrix were standing in front of an open closet, staring into it with wide eyes as a third voice joined theirs. Aubrey covered her mouth to hide her gasp. From out of the closet stepped Lucius Malfoy, looking livid. _What's he doing here? And where did he come from, anyway?_

"Terribly sorry, Malfoy!" Bellatrix cooed, batting her eyelashes at him. "We were only-"

"Shut up," Malfoy hissed. "I _know_ what you were doing. You had better hope no one heard you." His eyes, narrowed, surveyed the room angrily. Addii stiffened. Finally, Malfoy seemed to be satisfied. "Get in the room." When no one moved, he added, "_Now." _

All three stepped into the closet and disappeared, the doors of the closet swinging behind them. Aubrey frowned. What were they all doing in a closet? Deciding she had to investigate, she slipped further into the room and padded across the dusty floor to the closet. It loomed over her, dark and wizened in its intricate design. Shaking her head, she cast a transparency spell on the wood of the door.

To her surprise, the three Slytherins were no longer in the closet. Aubrey frowned and debated over where they could have gone. Eventually, she pulled one of the doors open with her pinky, wincing when it creaked. Careful not to make any more noise, she stepped quickly inside and shut the door behind her.


	5. note

Hey, I'm back! School started so I haven't had a lot of time to work on this story… but for now, I think I'm going to close it. Sorry for everyone who watched! I'll work on it again in a while, but right now with school any everything, I'm a little bit stuck. Plus I want to change up some stuff- I think Audrey needs a better personality. Up until now she's just kind of been… generic. :D So I'm going to work on that, since she's supposed to be the crow… and it's all very confusing and symbolic, lolz. I might even re-start it, since I'm just not very happy with it. xD

But anyway. The whole point is that I won't be posting another chapter for a while. Sorry! D:


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